SA’s GDP still muddling through
SA’s weak growth rate shows how far it still has to go to create a sustainable and competitive economy
The SA economy grew slightly ahead of consensus expectations last year, with real GDP growth at 1.4% in the final quarter, and 0.8% for 2018 as a whole. But this is still below the population growth rate, suggesting that the average South African’s standard of living continues to decline.Though most economic data this year has been desultory, the consensus is that the economy will quicken to 1.3%-1.5% this year on improved private fixed investment and household expenditure."The fourth-quarter GDP data will provide a reasonably strong carry-over into 2019," says Capital Economics chief emerging markets economist William Jackson. "More fundamentally, with financial conditions having loosened and inflation set to decline in the coming months, domestic demand should strengthen. All told, we expect the economy to expand by 1.5% over the course of 2019."The economy grew by 0.4% in 2016 and 1.4% in 2017. The National Treasury is forecasting growth to recover steadily to 2% by 2021.Stats SA...
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